“We produce Arthur, which I take great pride in that show in that it’s a show that parents and children like to watch together,” muti-Emmy Award-winning executive producer Marcy Gunther said during a TCA press conference for the newest PBS KIDS show, Work It Out Wombats! Premiering on Monday, February 6th, the new series follows a trio of wombat siblings as they go on entertaining musical adventures which also feature a curriculum that focuses on computational thinking to prepare them for computer science. “We want a show that parents hear and go, ‘Oh, what are you watching?’ I want to come into the other room.’ In terms of the writing and the humor, we want something there for parents… The feedback we’ve been getting is that parents, and older siblings too, are coming into the room and getting curious about what their younger child is watching… That’s the gold standard that we’re after.”
(Rahoul Ghose/PBS)
Work It Out Wombats! invites kids and parents into the Treeborhood, a treehouse apartment complex full of slides and passageways that open up new stories in each episode. “We center each episode around creativity and adventure,” explained Dr. Kareem Edouard, who serves as a creative producer on the show with areas of expertise that include learning technologies and culture and inclusion in children’s media. “In this ecosystem of the Treeborhood, there are plenty of problems to solve and plenty of intergenerational opportunities for the wombats to engage. Once we think of some of the ways that the wombats would interact with members of the Treeborhood, there are seven principles that we follow, as far as computational thinking. We frame some of them with the writer, and then from there, the process begins of how you start shaping and designing stories, not only to keep that creativity and inquisitive nature moving through the story, but more importantly, really hitting direct on this conversation around computational thinking.”
Meeting kids wherever they are, Work It Out Wombats isn’t just a TV series, which will be broadcast on PBS KIDS stations and streaming on the PBS KIDS app, but also a world of interactivity for children. “There’s a digital suite of games, there’s an app, we’re developing a podcast, we have parent and teacher engagement materials, we have community outreach,” Marcy Gunther revealed. “We are everywhere the kids are, and it’s a 360 experience, and we are involved in every aspect of the series looking and working with the teams to develop the games and develop the podcast. So, how you do computational thinking across those different avenues. We have a game that will be launching with the series where Zeke needs help. It’s called ‘Road Repair,’ and there are little holes in the Treeborhood, and you have to use shapes and problem decomposition to fill in the holes in the Treeborhood so that Zeke can ride his bike across the tree. You get to interact with the world, and also try some of the problem-solving hands-on yourself.”
(Courtesy of Work It Out Wombats!/WGBH Educational Foundation)
Speaking of Zeke, 9-year-old voice actor Rain Janjua speaks for the character and was on hand during the panel. “I knew very little about wombats when I actually auditioned,” Rain shared. “I'm very happy now that I know a bit more about them, and it kinda helps me understand the show a bit more. I'm like Zeke because he loves to draw. I love to draw, as well. He's very chatty which, mind you, I am quite a lot like. And he always asks questions and the same as me. I just love asking questions about whatever, to the point where my parents even call me a mini encyclopedia.” Zeke is one of three marsupial siblings at the center of the show, alongside Malik and Zadie. “My mom met Ian’s mom,” Rain revealed about meeting the voice actor who plays Malik, Ian Ho. “They didn’t even know that we were going to be on a show together, and they were just talking when I first started off. And then I met Mia [SwamiNathan, voice of Zadie] in person while we were recording, and it was really fun.”
“To have a character named Malik would’ve done me a real solid in the ’80s,” Kareem Edouard shared about how, even though the show stars a Treeborhood of animal characters, there’s still a lot of opportunities for diversity and inclusion. “You’ll find some animal to make a connection to, and that’s the value of the show, is there are plenty of inputs… The music, we’re very detail oriented to make sure that there are sounds and there are ideas of sounds that trigger. Somewhere in there, I’ll reference a show… There’s a Silver Spoons theme frame dug in somewhere on the show. It’s not the theme song, but it’s just the resonance of it, right? And part of the work that we think about is that you’ll have folks sitting with their young ones, and how do they do two things, right? Number one, exchange content information, but then also feel that this is something that they would’ve loved watching when they were younger. And that’s just the framework that I take in working on the show, myself and my partner, is that this is the show that I would’ve loved for me as a young Kareem.” As an example of the show’s catchy music, here’s an early look at the theme song.
“We looked at probably every animal in the animal kingdom when we were beginning to design the characters for the show,” Marcy Gunther shared when asked how wombats were chosen for the show. “What animal really hasn't had its due yet? We knew we wanted the show to really embody an energetic and joyful spirit and wanted our characters to bring that to problem-solving and to the world of the Treeborhood. We somehow stumbled upon wombats and learned that they are fast. They run 25 miles an hour. They roll into balls, which you'll see our characters doing a lot. And we thought, aha, that is the character for the show. And what a fun word, wombats.”
Fun, indeed. Work It Out Wombats! Premieres on Monday, February 6th. Check your local PBS station’s listings for specific times, or visit PBSKIDS.org or download PBS KIDS apps to stream the show and play games anytime, anywhere.